VIENNA PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH | DECEMBER 2022
THE MONTHLY MESSENGER
FROM HOPE'S HEART... Brothers & Sisters of VPC,
About five years ago, Tom popped into my office one random Wednesday. It was late spring and nowhere near Christmas. I could tell that he was really nervous and his wife, Judy, was smiling right behind him. He had made me a gift and had come to deliver it. When I unwrapped it, my eyes filled up with tears and my heart felt like it was going to explode. Tom had hand-carved the most beautiful wooden plate with precise attention to the most intricate of details. Around the edge he carved: “Thank You for This Good Opportunity Pastor Hope.” If you’ve sat through even one of my sermons, ever, you might remember that I pray “Thank You for this good opportunity. Help us do something good with it,” before the start of each one. Tom had been listening to my sermons for years and the Lord put it on his heart to make this special gift. Judy was quick to exclaim, “this took him over 40 hours to make!” Your pastor was speechless. I was the recipient of a one-of-a-kind, priceless piece of art that was made just for me at the cost of someone’s time – a non-renewable resource. I loved it so much that I showed it to anyone and everyone who came within five miles of my office. And while I could tell that others appreciated the craftsmanship, no one was in awe of this gift the way that I was. To them it was a nice piece of wood that really wasn’t practical as much more than décor. To me, it remains a Michelangelo. This season we are asking the question: can Christmas still change the world? We believe that it can and we are conspiring together to make that a reality for our community by joining in on the Advent Conspiracy.
There are 4 parts to the conspiracy: worship fully, spend less, give more, love all. As we approach the "spend less, give more" part of the conspiracy, I invite you to think about Tom’s gift. There’s no amount of money in the world that he could’ve spent to give me something more precious. And if I had to guess at the raw material cost, it would be less than $10. But his gift was so much more. It was a reflection of his heart and his time. And the most striking part to me was that he did it “just because.” Not because it was my birthday, or Christmas, or pastoral anniversary, or even that I gave a particularly compelling sermon. And that made this unexpected gift even more sweet. The heart of Christmas is that on one glorious night, God showed up at the door to the world and gave us a gift that we didn’t deserve, that we could never afford, and that would never be rivaled: Jesus. Church, if we’re serious about following Jesus, then let’s do what He did that first Christmas and show up for a hurting world…not because the world deserves it or can afford to reciprocate but because maybe, just maybe, there’s someone out there who needs to know that Christmas can still change their world and you could be the one to show them! I’d love to hear your Conspiracy stories and I’d love to celebrate them with you in worship all season long! You’ll find me in the lobby after each service or you can send them to me at hope.lee@viennapres.org Merry Christmas, VPC! Let’s make it a merry one for our community, our neighbors, our family, and our world! In the Grip of Grace, Pastor Hope hope.lee@viennapres.org